September 25, 2009

We just arrived in West Virginia to visit my wife’s parents and her grandmother who’s visiting them. We’re bringing along a three-month-old puppy that we got a few weeks ago from a friend.
We stopped at Five Brothers for dinner and ate outside so that Taffy could get out, too. While we were eating, I was really surprised how much attention Taffy got. […]

Small changes have reduced electrical charges in my home. On a year-over-year basis, we have used 20 percent less electricity due to two minor adjustments. We have switched most of the light bulbs to compact florescent bulbs (CFLs), an energy-saving option. […]

Twitter is quickly becoming one of the hottest new communication mediums online. The ability to quickly broadcast out your thoughts, questions, and comments (and get responses back just as quickly) is a powerful and useful tool. If you start using it (as I have @bargainr), it’s very important to include others in the conversation if you want them to respond. […]

This article is part of a series called How to Write a Cover Letter. To start this series from the beginning, read the introduction.
Your cover letter tells a story. It’s got a beginning, a middle, and an ending. If you tell your story right then you’ll get your resume read. […]

We have this green chair that sits in our sun-room. It’s a very comfortable chair and I like to sit in it when I’m studying my Bible or reading a book to the kids. The fabric is in great shape – but two of the little legs on the bottom of the chair have become unstable. The holes where the legs attach have become “wallered out” and the legs will no longer hold firmly to the bottom of the couch. […]

The following is an article sent to me from State Farm Insurance. They originally sent me a list of their top 15 questions consumers should arm themselves with when looking for a new policy. I asked them to provide answers to the questions as well, and that's how this piece was born. […]

Starting next week, we will be publishing a series of articles in a new feature series called How to Fight Debt Collectors. I’ve tapped the expertise of Craig Cunningham, known as Codename47 on the Fatwallet Forums, who has been a citizen warrior in the fight against debt collectors. […]

If you’re looking for something fun and cheap to do this weekend, don’t forget that Saturday is National Museum Day. That means you can get free admission to dozens of museums across the country.
Click here for a full list of participating museums. If you find one that you want to visit, simply print out the admission card and take it with you. […]

By Sarah Winfrey There is a healthcare crisis in this country. Whether you like Obama's proposed resolution to these difficulties or not, the crisis is very real. And HMOs can be the most difficult of the current types of healthcare to deal with. […]

I think I come from a moderately humble background. My parents are both college graduates, which is a statistical leg up by itself, but my father had to work two jobs until I was 15, and I’m the youngest of my siblings. Mom also started working part-time when I was about 10, and then full-time later on. […]

I think we can all agree that a college education can be expensive. In fact, in many cases a four year degree can easily run upwards of six figures. You may have recalled one of my posts last week that talked about saving for your child’s college education versus saving for retirement. […]

By Lynn Truong Today's WISEBUY. Up to 80% off DC Shoes, Apparel, and More
Today only. 6pm discounts select DC gear, shoes and apparel for men and women for its DC Blowout Sale. Nearly 600 items are discounted with prices starting at $6.75. Shipping is $6.95. Get the Spectrum shell hoodie for just $28, down from $160!
FREE The New Yorker 2010 Calendar Poster
No Strings. Nothing to buy. […]

By Financial Samurai Before my grandmother passed away, she whispered in my ear, "Don't ever stop loving life, don't ever stop." She was 77, and that was the last time I ever spoke to her. I was 25 at the time, working like a dog for the past two years out of college. I had gained 20 pounds, and was pretty miserable. […]

Check this out from the NY Times:
When Peter Means returned to graduate school after a career as a civil servant, he turned to a debit card to help him spend his money more carefully.
So he was stunned when his bank charged him seven $34 fees to cover seven purchases when there was not enough cash in his account, notifying him only afterward. […]

A young reader writes in:
I’m a high school senior and I’m going to college next fall. When I go to college, I want to be completely independent, paying my own bills. My parents insist that this is financial suicide and that they should support me through college. What do you think is the right way to go?
Shortly after my eighteenth birthday, I left my parents’ house and went to college. […]

By Julie Rains Figuring out what you've accomplished at work is essential to demonstrating your value to employers and clients. Though some people are keenly aware of their accomplishments (a sales representative, for example, can usually tell me how much she increased sales or how many new accounts he landed), others stumble. […]

At AskMetafilter last week, a user asked a question I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Now that I have my finances firmly under control, now that I’m building wealth, is it ever okay to finance fun? Here’s the question (with minor edits for clarification):
When is it okay to finance Toys? […]

If you are reading this article, it is almost completely guaranteed that you are human. And if you are human and do not have a major cerebral deficit, you have emotions. Perhaps have is not a strong enough word; everything you do, and every decision you make, is controlled by your emotions. Even the strive to take a logical approach to life is an emotional desire. […]

CNN Money played with the 2008 Census data released on Monday and discovered that the nationwide average commute is 25.5 minutes. If you work five days a week and fifty weeks a year, that’s 12,750 minutes spent in the car. For the math whizzes out there, that’s 212.5 hours or 8.85 days.
The average American spend over a week sitting in his or her car driving to or from work. […]

Bargaineering is a blog that chronicles my personal finance life and where I discuss matters of shopping, insurance, investing, retirement, loans, credit cards, mortgages, bargain hunting and other issues in my life.